The former Olympic wrestler is still light heavyweight champion but the division continues to struggle while Jon Jones’s exile continues
Daniel Cormier thinks he broke Anthony Johnson twice when they were matched in the spring of 2015 for the UFC light heavyweight title. Cormier took possession of the vacant belt partway into the third round, when Johnson tapped to a rear-naked choke, but he walked away from that contest feeling as if his opponent’s will had been snapped in the previous frame.
When they were paired after Johnson stormed through three straight 205lb contenders since losing to the defending champion Cormier, a former Olympic wrestler, said if he made it past seven minutes with “Rumble” the fight would be his again.
Johnson blew up his previous opponents with punches. Heavy, nasty punches. But on Saturday at UFC 210 rather than engage as expected from the outside, Johnson decided to initiate a series of wrestling moments with Cormier that did little to help his cause.
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